American Apparel 'sexually provocative' website slammed by watchdog

American Apparel has had a series of images on its website banned by the ad watchdog for being irresponsible and containing offensive content that could be viewed by children.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received two complaints regarding "overtly sexual" and "inappropriate" images on American Apparel's site. All the images were created in-house.

In two separate investigations the ASA assessed 27 images and banned seven.

The images that drew the first complaint featured: a woman wearing only a pair of white tights; a near-naked woman wearing a pair of high denier tights, bending forwards with her back to the camera; and a photograph of two women wearing cut out tights that exposed their bottoms.

These images were considered inappropriate for a website that could be seen by children.

The second complaint addressed a series of images of a woman modelling American Apparel’s translucent shirts. They were banned because the model looked under 16 and her breasts were visible, sexualising "a model who appeared to be a child".